The present disclosure is directed to an apparatus and system for conditioning a surface. More particularly, it is directed to an easy to use and low cost surface modifying tool adapter including a plurality of removable surface modifying articles, such as abrasive article inserts, and a surface modifying tool system using such surface modifying tool adapter in a surface modifying method.
A variety of attachment systems have been employed to attach abrasive articles, such as abrasive sheets or discs, to a power surface modifying tool, such as a sanding tool, whereby the former is driven by the latter. Abrasive sheets and discs have relatively flexible constructions and are available in a wide variety of sizes and shapes. Typically, abrasive particles are on one major surface of abrasive discs or sheets. These kinds of abrasive articles are normally held in place on the surface modifying tool by a mechanical bolt and washer and the like that require user manipulations to mount and replace.
Typically, during surface modifying with a rotary abrader, disc shaped abrasive articles tend to wear adjacent their outer periphery more than towards their center. Because of the uneven wear, there may be a considerable amount of wastage of otherwise good abrasive particles near the center of the discs. Moreover, in response to forming abrasive discs, in the first instance, a considerable amount of sheet material from which the discs are cut is wasted, thereby compounding wastage of the single abrasive disc. This amount of wastage, for example, may be in the order of about 16% to about 23% for discs having 16-20 inch diameters. In addition, material in the center of such discs generally does not abrade as well as at the periphery of the disc or at all. It will be appreciated that the total wastage regarding the converting of sheet material to discs and the general loss of material at disc centers lead to wastage loss that may at times be considerable. Moreover, abrasive discs may become damaged during usage, such as in response to striking a protrusion (e.g., nail) from the working surface. Accordingly, the entire abrasive disc must be replaced. Not only is this costly since undamaged portions must be replaced, but in a surface modifying operation, such as sanding operation, the downtime increases due to the relatively tedious process of removing and replacing damaged discs. Furthermore, there is a desire to eliminate waste of materials in products, as well as in the manufacturing process.